Kanika Kapoor

Kanika Kapoor (born 21 August 1978) is an Indian playback singer. Through her successful singing career, she has received one Filmfare Award. Kapoor was born and raised in Lucknow, always aspired to pursue a career in singing, but she married businessman Raj Chandok in 1997 and moved to London, where she gave birth to three children. After getting a divorce from Raj in 2012, she relocated to Mumbai to become a singer. Kapoor's first song "Jugni Ji" (2012) was for a music video–which became a huge commercial success. In 2014, she began her Bollywood playback singing career with the song "Baby Doll" for the film Ragini MMS 2. Upon its release, "Baby Doll" went viral and topped the charts and Kapoor received wide critical acclaim and several accolades for her singing style, including the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer.

Kapoor was born and raised in Lucknow, always aspired to pursue a career in singing, but she married businessman Raj Chandok in 1997 and moved to London, where she gave birth to three children. After getting a divorce from Raj in 2012, she relocated to Mumbai to become a singer. Kapoor's first song "Jugni Ji" (2012) was for a music video–which became a huge commercial success. In 2014, she began her Bollywood playback singing career with the song "Baby Doll" for the film Ragini MMS 2. Upon its release, "Baby Doll" went viral and topped the charts and Kapoor received wide critical acclaim and several accolades for her singing style, including the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer.

Early and personal life

Kapoor was born on 21 August 1978 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Her father, Rajeev Kapoor, is a businessman, and her mother, Poonam Kapoor, is a boutique owner.[1] She was born and brought up in a Khatri family from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh[2] where she also studied music.[3][4] At the age of 12, Kapoor started to study classical music under musician Pandit Ganesh Prasad Mishra from Varanasi and was accompanied by him to classical concerts around India. Kapoor participated in many music competitions at school in her childhood. At the age of 15, she did a stint with All India Radio and also accompanied bhajan singer Anup Jalota in his shows. She did her B.A. and then Masters in music from Bhatkhande Music Institute in Lucknow. She then moved to Mumbai to pursue her music career.[5]

Kapoor married to Raj Chandok, an NRI businessman, in 1997 and moved to London with her husband, with whom she had three children. Kapoor separated from her husband in 2012 and moved back to her parents home in Lucknow.[6][7][8] The couple divorced in 2012.[2][9]

According to Kapoor, despite singing various Bollywood songs with Punjabi lyrics, she cannot speak Punjabi and thus considers herself a "UP Khatri". She shares a special bond with music composers Meet Bros with whom she debuted in Bollywood. She considers them as her real brothers.[10]

That same year, she participated in a concert tour across North America, entitled "SLAM! The Tour", in which she performed alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone.[15] Apart from concerts and tours, she has also been signed by an NGO for children, as their brand ambassador, where she promoted the cause of children's education.[16] She also relaunched her own fashion brand "Kanika Kapoor: House of Chikankari" to help the female artisans in Lucknow and develop this art of embroidery and textile decoration.

In the year 2015, she collaborated again with Meet Bros Anjjan for the song "Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan" in Roy, which became a huge critical and commercial success and was the playback singer for Sunny Leone in the song "Desi Look" in the movie Ek Paheli Leela.[17][18] The song was her last collaboration with Zeus and parted ways with him due to his false claim of being the producer and composer of the song "Baby Doll".[19] She collaborated third time with Meet Bros Anjjan for the song "Nachan Farrate" for the movie All Is Well. She sang "Neendein Khul Jaati Hain" for the film Hate Story 3, collaborating fourth time with Meet Bros.[20] She also sang a welcome song titled "Hello Namstey" for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he attended a gathering at Wembley Stadium, London on 13 November 2015.[21]

She regularly arranges and take part in live shows and concerts. In 2016, she paired up with various composers including Amit Trivedi, Raghav Sachar. In an interview, she said that she will now concentrate more on Sufi and classical tracks. She will also release her songs as singles.[22]

In 2016, she was made brand ambassador of Swiss Watch manufacturer 88 Rue du Rhone, an independent brand by Raymond Weil. In 2019, Kapoor was named a coach in the Star Plus show The Voice.[23]

References

1 2 "Kanika Kapoor: I am just a simple small town girl who has been through a lot". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. I am a Khatri, who was born and brought up in Lucknow ... I got married to Raj and moved to London when I was only 17 ... we separated about five years ago and finally divorced three years back ... This was January 2012 ... By July, Raj and I had separated and in October, I won the best British Asian award.